Shadow Genie process

In collaboration with Annelise, we created an installation made with found objects. We wanted to explore how the layering of objects in a space can create both depth in the arrangement of the objects, and a surprising image as the shadow of all these objects combined.

At first it seemed an easy idea, just to pile up random objects and focus on the shadows they produce, but it ended up being a more complicated endeavor. The different materials give different degrees of opacity, and for them to stay still on a fixed place resulted a challenge as well. We used fishing thread to hang objects from the ceiling, and also to tie objects together. We worked with textures (wrinkling paper) and transparencies (using colored filters). The resulting image was a sort of genie coming out of a kettle.

I found it very interesting to work with space and depth when placing the objects, but simultaneously to have my eyes fixed on the shadows they produced and the image we wanted to create with the shadows. It felt like thinking in 2D and 3D simultaneously, 2D with my eyes, 3D with my hands.

We had a lot of fun working in this project and below are some of our process images.